Iran's Student Affairs Organization, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, has expressed readiness to increase the exchange of students with Russia.

Deputy head of the scholarship and foreign students’ affairs department of the Organization of Student Affairs Mohammad Javad Salmanpour said on Saturday that science is definitely one of the common interests both countries share. Initiating this step could further cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, hence the Islamic Republic is ready to welcome Russian students to Iranian universities.

Salmanpour and his colleagues in the Student Affairs Organization – Mohammad Mohammadi Masoudi and Jafar Razaghi – held talks with Dmitry Kalinichenko, the representative of the Russian cooperation organization in Iran, and his delegates in Tehran on Saturday morning.

The deputy head of the scholarship and foreign students’ affairs department noted that the organization is keen on exchanging students with Russia, expressing hope that the meeting would end up in the expansion of cooperation in this respect.

Kalinichenko, for his part, thanked the Student Affairs Organization, adding that there are 300 Iranian students with scholarships in Russia and that the number can increase in the future.

The Russian official went on to say that the Russian Cooperation Organization in Iran plans to select Iranian students to get scholarships at Russia’s universities as well as to hold Olympiads and seminars.

He also said that Moscow is interested in exchanging students with Tehran, expressing readiness for teaching the Persian Language in Russia and Russian Language in Iran.

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Jafar Razaghi, the director general of international students’ affairs of the Student Affairs Organization, said that Iran hosts students from about 117 countries.

According to the official, given the fact that Russia and Iran enjoy strong diplomatic ties, it is called to expand scientific and student exchanges.

Mohammad Mohammadi Masoudi, the director general of scholarship of the Student Affairs Organization, called for creating a joint scholarship between Russian and Iranian universities.

Read more: Israeli media: Russia-Iran cooperation worries "Israel"

In recent years, Russia and Iran have made considerable strides in strengthening their diplomatic and financial ties.

Over the past few years, the two countries have had close and expanding relations, and the anti-Western positions of both governments have created aligned interests between both sides.

The start of the war in Ukraine and the imposition of severe Western sanctions against Moscow has brought both countries closer in their anti-Western campaign.

Iran, Russia, and Turkey also discussed the long-running war in Syria, with Erdogan saying that he expects support from Russia and Iran “in its fight against terrorism”.

When the leaders of both countries met on July 19, Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Russian President Vladimir Putin  "If you had not taken the initiative, the other side (West) would have caused a war on its own initiative."